1938

Eddie Cochran Biography

1960

Biography ~ Achievements ~ Albert Lea ~ Dark Lonely Street ~ Chippenham ~ Autographs ~ Books & Magazines 

1938 - October 3 Edward Raymond (Eddie) Cochran, son of Frank and Alice Cochran, is born in Albert Lea, Minnesota. Eddie has one older sister, Gloria, and two older brothers, Bill and Robert. Bill teaches Eddie the first couple of chords on the guitar.
late 1940s Frank, Alice and Eddie Cochran move to Oklahoma. Because of serious health problems for Eddie they move back to Albert Lea.

1951 The Cochran family leave for Bell Gardens, a suburb of Los Angeles, California.
1951 - September Eddie is enrolled in Bell Gardens Junior High. He becomes friends with Connie 'Guybo' Smith who plays bass, steel guitar and mandolin. Connie and Eddie start rehearsing together and have a performance at school. Guybo will become Eddie's bass player and he is heard on most records from Eddie's professional career.
1953

Eddie meets local musician Chuck Foreman. They experiment with Chuck's two-track tape recorder. The couple record songs like Stardust, Candy Kisses, The Poor People Of Paris, Hearts of Stone and Cannonball Rag.
1954 - June Eddie graduates from Junior High.
1954 - October

 
Eddie meets country singer Hank Cochran and in january 1955 Hank offers Eddie a job as his guitar accompanist. Eddie leaves school and for the next 18 months Hank and Eddie  will be playing and recording together as The Cochran Brothers.

1955 - May

 

At Sunset Recorders in Hollywood The Cochran Brothers record four tracks of which Mr Fiddle and Two Blue Singin' Stars are released on Ekko 1003. Guilty Conscience and Your Tomorrows Never Come are issued on Ekko 1005 later that year.
1955 - June

Eddie joins the Musicians' Union.
1955 - October Eddie and Hank meet Jerry Capehart, an aspiring songwriter who is looking for artists to demo his songs. Near the end of 1955 Jerry starts promoting The Cochran Brothers.
1955 - autumn The Cochran Brothers appear on The Big D Jamboree.
1956 - January

On Cash 1021 Walkin' Stick Boogie coupled with Rollin'  is released as Jerry Capehart featuring the Cochran Brothers.
1956 - April/May In april or may 1956 The Cochran Brothers cut four rock and roll songs of which Tired & Sleepy and Fool's Paradise are released on EKKO 3001. Slow Down and Open The Door are released 26 years later by the Rockstar label. This is the last session of The Cochran Brothers.
1956 - July Skinny Jim bw Half Loved, Eddie's first solo-single is released on CREST 1026. This is his only single on the Crest label and doesn't chart.

1956 - late July
Eddie is asked by producer Boris Petroff to sing a part in 'Do-Re-Mi' (later re-titled 'The girl can't help it') and records Twenty-Flight Rock and Dark Lonely Street at Gold Star Studio in Hollywood.
1956 - August 14

Eddie's classic performance of Twenty-Flight Rock for 'The Girl Can't Help It' is filmed at Fox Studios in Hollywood.

1956 - September 8

Eddie signs a one-year contract with Liberty.
1956 - December

'Untamed Youth' is the next movie in which Eddie plays and sings a little part as the character named Bong. The song is Cotton Picker and is recorded at Gold Star Studio in Hollywood. The star of the movie is Mamie van Doren.
1957 - January

Liberty let Eddie cover Johnny Dee's Sittin' In The Balcony and release it backed with Dark Lonely Street. The single eventually gets to number 18, Johnny Dee's original stalls at number 38.

1957 - May

 

Eddie records the tracks of his debut album 'Singin' To My Baby'. It is the only album issued in his lifetime. Songs recorded include: One Kiss (also released on single), Have I Told You Lately That I Love You and Completely Sweet. Drive-In Show and Am I Blue were also recorded at these sessions and released as Eddie's third Liberty single (nr 82 in the charts).
1957 - October

Eddie tours Australia with Gene Vincent, Little Richard and Elis Lesley (the female Elvis Presley) in The Biggest Show Of Stars for 1957. This is the first American rock and roll show ever to come to Australia. Every single date was sold out. This is also the tour where Little Richard throws his jewellery into the water, leaves show business and devotes himself to religion.

1958 - March Eddie joins a Gene Vincent session and sings back-up with the Blue Caps on seven songs. Among the songs recorded are Git It, Teenage Partner and Lovely Loretta.
1958 - March

Eddie and his touring band Dick D'Agostin And The Swingers are involved in the music making for the movie 'Hot Rod Gang'. At a session in march 1958 they back up John Ashley on Annie Laurie and Hit And Run Lover. Eddie is not credited for his performances.

1958 - June 11
Liberty releases Summertime Blues backed with Love Again. The single peaks at number 8 and is Eddie's biggest hit ever in the United States. The novelty cat fish vocals are by Eddie himself.

1958 - October

The follw-up to Summertime Blues is C'mon Everybody b/w Don't Ever Let Me Go. It gets no higher than number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the United Kingdom it climbs to number 6. 
1958 - December
Eddie plays at The Loews State Theatre in New York. An all-star show hosted by DJ Alan Freed. Among the other artists are Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson and Bo Diddley.

1959 - January

Eddie can be seen in the movie 'Go, Johnny, Go!' performing Teenage Heaven. One of the great guitar players of the era dances with his guitar (!) during the sax solo. Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson and the Ritchie Valens are also in the movie.

1959 - February 3 Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper are killed in a plane crash. Two days later Eddie Records Three Stars, a song penned by DJ Tommy Dee. Liberty doesn't release the song because they feel they can't get a satisfactory master. During the song Eddie breaks into tears several times.
1959 - summer
Somethin' Else gets to number 58 in the Billboard charts. It is his seventh and last hit in the Billboard charts.
1960 - January 8 On his last session for Liberty Eddie records Three Steps To Heaven, Cherished Memories and Cut Across Shorty with the remaining Crickets as back-up band. After the session he leaves for the United Kingdom to join Gene Vincent in a tour of the United Kingdom.
1960 - January 16

Eddie appears on the first of four TV-shows 'Boy Meets Girls'. Till April 16 Eddie's tours with Gene Vincent and appears on several radio and TV-shows. Eddie and Gene make a big impression on the Britisch teenagers and will be a lasting influence on the musicians in that country.

1960 - April 17 On route to the airport, the taxi which carries Eddie, his fiancee Sharon Sheeley and Gene Vincent, is involved in an accident near Chippenham. Sheeley and Vincent are only slightly hurt but Eddie dies of severe head injuries later that night (for a detailed account of the accident see the Dark Lonely Street section of this biography).
1960 - May

Three Steps To Heaven is phostumously released in the UK and is a number 1 hit. The contrast is high with the US where the single doesn't even reach the Top 100.

Biography ~ Achievements ~ Albert Lea ~ Dark Lonely Street ~ Chippenham ~ Autographs ~ Books & Magazines 

Page updated 8 September 2007

Antoon van Olderen - Amsterdam

Remember Eddie Cochran since 25 June 2003